DazzaG

Q: 24" iMac Screen Freezes since 10.6.3 update - pls help!

I don't know if this is just coincidence or not, but since updating my iMac to 10.6.3 it keeps on crashing. On 3 separate occasions today, whilst using my Mac the screen has gone completely black with thin white lines down it.....see pic below:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6SYzhCgVYEU5TBKqRfOQ1Q?feat=directlink

The fans and hard disk are still running but it will not respond to any keyboard or mouse presses - I simply have to turn it off by holding the power button in.
It will then restart as usual.

Anyone got any ideas? Do you think that if I was to re-install Mac OS X from my original install disk it could solve the issue?

Thanks

Darren

24" intel imac 2.8Ghz, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on Mar 31, 2010 2:43 PM

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Q: 24" iMac Screen Freezes since 10.6.3 update - pls help!

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  • by R C-R,

    R C-R R C-R Jul 1, 2010 5:18 AM in response to tommie_c
    Level 6 (17,700 points)
    Jul 1, 2010 5:18 AM in response to tommie_c
    I've had more contact with Apple today en they suggested doing the things you're discouraging.


    Talking with Apple (hopefully) means their suggestions are applicable for your specific circumstances, considering everything you have already tried so far. This does not mean they would make the same suggestions for every other user.

    One reason this is such a frustrating issue is there is no best "one size fits all" solution for it.
  • by tommie_c,

    tommie_c tommie_c Jul 1, 2010 9:55 AM in response to YMarkY
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 1, 2010 9:55 AM in response to YMarkY
    YMarkY wrote:
    Another one here with the freeze issues. I'm running 10.6.3 and would like to revert back to 10.6.2. If I just put in my Snow Leopard DVD can I just upgrade from that without losing data? I'm not sure what all will get wiped out on a reinstall.


    Preliminary results are showing that 10.6.2 might have no or less black screen issues. You could revert back to 10.6.2 if you prefer a reliable iMac on short term. It's my personal opinion this isn't an ideal solution, but downgrading is an intermediate solution while the issue is investigated and until Apple pushes a final fix.

    I do have a time capsule with backups.


    Looks pretty safe, but exercise on your own risk! Please contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider when in doubt.
  • by Jonah Lee Walker,

    Jonah Lee Walker Jonah Lee Walker Jul 1, 2010 1:34 PM in response to R C-R
    Level 3 (591 points)
    iPhone
    Jul 1, 2010 1:34 PM in response to R C-R
    My wife's iMac went black again today after being OK for a few days after zapping the PRAM. And it is so interminably that I am worried about bringing it in, as they may not see it unless they use it for an hour or two.
  • by raccc,

    raccc raccc Jul 2, 2010 3:09 AM in response to DazzaG
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 2, 2010 3:09 AM in response to DazzaG
    Well I got my iMac back from Apple this afternoon. I was doubtful that they could duplicate my flickering freeze issue, since it took a week between freezes, but they called me a day later saying they saw it. 3 days later my iMac had a new LCD display and cable,inverter power. Been running for 7 hours no problem. Will report back if the flickering returns.

    Good luck to all
  • by YMarkY,

    YMarkY YMarkY Jul 2, 2010 2:36 PM in response to raccc
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 2, 2010 2:36 PM in response to raccc
    raccc wrote:
    Well I got my iMac back from Apple this afternoon. I was doubtful that they could duplicate my flickering freeze issue, since it took a week between freezes, but they called me a day later saying they saw it. 3 days later my iMac had a new LCD display and cable,inverter power. Been running for 7 hours no problem. Will report back if the flickering returns.

    Good luck to all


    I hope your problem is solved, but I really don't think the freeze issue is hardware related.
  • by tommie_c,

    tommie_c tommie_c Jul 3, 2010 7:02 AM in response to raccc
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 3, 2010 7:02 AM in response to raccc
    raccc wrote:
    Well I got my iMac back from Apple this afternoon. I was doubtful that they could duplicate my flickering freeze issue, since it took a week between freezes, but they called me a day later saying they saw it. 3 days later my iMac had a new LCD display and cable,inverter power. Been running for 7 hours no problem. Will report back if the flickering returns.


    Thumbs up, this is great news!

    Message was edited by: tommie_c
  • by crxb00,

    crxb00 crxb00 Jul 3, 2010 8:04 AM in response to DazzaG
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Wireless
    Jul 3, 2010 8:04 AM in response to DazzaG
    just found this thread my 2006 imac 24" has starting doing these strange screen/graphic issues since 10.6.4 I have the upgraded nvida 7600GT video card

    catch me up here folks what can I do to help this? anything I can do other than somehow go back to 10.6.2?
  • by R C-R,

    R C-R R C-R Jul 3, 2010 8:44 AM in response to crxb00
    Level 6 (17,700 points)
    Jul 3, 2010 8:44 AM in response to crxb00
    It can't hurt to run the Apple Hardware Test. (See Apple Hardware Test: iMac (Mid 2007) and later models or Intel-based Macs: Using Apple Hardware Test for the details.) Note that it cannot detect every hardware issue, especially intermittent ones, but if it finds anything wrong you will know it needs service.

    Note also that even if the iMac runs 10.6.2 fine, that does not necessarily mean there is nothing wrong with the hardware. Every version of the OS uses the hardware slightly differently & one usage pattern may reveal a fault in it that another won't, at least until it gets worse.

    I have a G5 iMac like that: I started getting occasional random display anomalies in its behavior that at first were much more frequent when running 10.5 than 10.4, but eventually would show up with any OS version. Oddly, they don't show up at all in Classic mode windows when I run OS 9 applications using Tiger. Go figure.

    Some users report using a third party utility to speed up the fans helps, but this is basically a bandaid, not a permanent cure.
  • by morpho,

    morpho morpho Jul 3, 2010 2:14 PM in response to DazzaG
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 3, 2010 2:14 PM in response to DazzaG
    Hi everyone.
    Just a few words: I managed to get rid of random lockups by disabling Little Snitch network monitor and disabling 3D acceleration for VMware Fusion guests.

    Further investigation with stackshot confirmed that there is something weird going on with OpenGL: WindowServer gets stuck somewhere inside ATIRadeonX2000GLDriver.bundle (my iMac has a Radeon HD2400), while some processes are caught in a deadlock on _CGSSynchronizeWindowBackingStore (one of which was always Little Snitch UI Agent).

    IMHO, a feasible workaround would be forcibly switching off Quartz Extreme and staying out of OpenGL's way until Apple releases a fix.
    I'm not entirely sure to whom I should file a bugreport, though

    (PS: sorry for my bad english!)

    Message was edited by: morpho - some typos here and there...
  • by morpho,

    morpho morpho Jul 3, 2010 2:09 PM in response to DanShilstone
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 3, 2010 2:09 PM in response to DanShilstone
    Ooops, wrong post, please kill it

    Message was edited by: morpho
  • by Rasert,

    Rasert Rasert Jul 3, 2010 7:27 PM in response to DazzaG
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 3, 2010 7:27 PM in response to DazzaG
    I have an iMac 8,1 (ATI Radeon HD 2600) and after the 10.6.3 update... it just started to freeze. ¬¬ What a shame. I bought this mac because I thought that macs are more stable. But... now I realize that mac are just computers like PCs that can crash any time.
  • by R C-R,

    R C-R R C-R Jul 4, 2010 7:36 AM in response to Rasert
    Level 6 (17,700 points)
    Jul 4, 2010 7:36 AM in response to Rasert
    Unfortunately, any computer can crash if it loads its OS from a mutable source like a hard drive because that source can be corrupted. Long ago, very simple OS's were locked into ROM chips in personal computers like Commodore 64's. They were extremely stable but the only way to update the OS (such as it was) was to buy a new set of chips & replace the old ones. With modern OS's weighing in at several GB & so complex that there is essentially zero chance that they are 100% bug free, this is obviously not a practical alternative.

    The closest we get to an immutable OS in the Mac world is loading it from a read only source like a DVD, for example the installer discs that come with Macs. But the price for this is not being able to save any new files or file changes to that source; including system & network settings, preferences, logs, references, & of course updates to the OS.

    That makes it unsuitable for daily use but very useful for restoring the mutable copy of the OS to a known stable state -- as long as we don't allow anything from the old mutable source that might destabilize it back into it afterwards. Since this is both inconvenient & hard to do -- who wants to go through everything in a backup file by file or even knows everything to look for? -- there is no way to guarantee that a Mac's OS is 100% stable once we start using it.
  • by morpho,

    morpho morpho Jul 5, 2010 9:49 AM in response to DazzaG
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 5, 2010 9:49 AM in response to DazzaG
    Scrap my last comment, I just got a full blown kernel panic: page fault in kernel mode.
    Guess who was the culprit: com.apple.ATIRadeonX2000.

    (Yes, I ran AHT, I NEVER saw a panic on this machine and - to be honest - ruling out faulty RAM a page fault in kernel mode is hardly a hardware problem...)
  • by tommie_c,

    tommie_c tommie_c Jul 5, 2010 12:11 PM in response to morpho
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 5, 2010 12:11 PM in response to morpho
    morpho wrote:
    Scrap my last comment, I just got a full blown kernel panic: page fault in kernel mode.
    Guess who was the culprit: com.apple.ATIRadeonX2000.

    (Yes, I ran AHT, I NEVER saw a panic on this machine and - to be honest - ruling out faulty RAM a page fault in kernel mode is hardly a hardware problem...)


    Could you sent me your crash-logs?

    Message was edited by: tommie_c
  • by all.ears,

    all.ears all.ears Jul 5, 2010 1:46 PM in response to R C-R
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 5, 2010 1:46 PM in response to R C-R
    It's encouraging, in a weird sort of way, to find a really current discussion of a problem that just showed up this a.m. (And I was wondering what I would do today!!)
    I honestly don't know what update we are running, but we did update within the past few weeks. btw, do the numbers stand for the release date? 10.6.4--does that mean June 4, 2010??

    Never any previous problems with the 24" iMac. Today I was using Safari, had just logged into my course management program (I teach online), then opened a new browser window, went to ClassReport.com to find someone who I think could help one of my students and zoned out watching the slide show of deceased classmates. That's when the iMac shut down--died in sympathy?! I had my ergonomic keyboard plugged in (USB) and the headphones were plugged in.

    Problem: Once I turned the computer back on with the switch in the back, continuous restarts began, never getting past the white screen with the grey apple. No cursor, colored rotating ball, just the screen. Time before restart varies from 20 seconds or so to several minutes.
    I tried a whole range of usual stuff, but to cut to the chase, holding down the option key, the shift key, and even the D key when powering up, made no difference whatsoever. Well, the D key did delay the appearance of the apple, just a permanent white screen, no hardware check or whatever that is supposed to result in. Does anyone know what this indicates? (I'll brace myself.)

    The machine did get rather hot. I'm wondering if the fan gave out (although I'm not usually aware of hearing any fan!) and overheating caused some dire damage.

    Thanks for being there!
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